Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.
These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example of an emerging telecommunication standard is Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). LTE is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA on the downlink (DL), SC-FDMA on the uplink (UL), and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology.
Existing wireless devices use multiple antennas, modems, and processors to enable the device to communicate with other devices using multiple communications protocols. Some of these protocols can be used simultaneously, such as using one protocol to enable voice communications over a wide-area network (WAN), while using a different protocol to enable data communications over a local-area network (LAN). However, use of such antennas, modems, and processors usually involves adding redundant components to the device to enable use through the different communications protocols, which take up valuable area within the device and consume unnecessary power.
Based on these issues, there exists a need for improvement of wireless devices to handle multiple communications protocols efficiently. Preferably, a solution would efficiently use components within the device and save physical area occupied to enable such communications.